Sept. 24, 2007
Albuquerque, N.M. - Senior Margaret Shirley fired an opening round 1-under 72 to lead all Tiger competitors at the Margaret Moses Branch Fall Preview hosted by New Mexico at par 73, 6,351-yard UNM Championship Course.
As a group, Auburn shot 6-over 298 and stands in a three-way tie for eighth with No. 2 ranked Arizona State and No. 10 Purdue. Third-ranked Duke leads all teams after shooting 5-under 287. The Blue Devils are followed by top-ranked UCLA (291) and No. 8 Southern California (292).
Shirley turned in six birdies on the day to finish at 1-under 72 and tied for 14th. She is followed closely by freshman Cydney Clanton, ranked third in the country as an individual, who fired even par 73. Clanton turned in four birdies, two in the first five holes (teed off of hole 10). Clanton is tied for 16th.
Junior Mariana Macias opened with two birdies on the first five holes, but three more bogey's kept her over par to finish at 2-over 75. She is tied for 36th. Freshman Sarah Thead was even after the opening nine holes, but four bogey's or worse caused her to settle for 5-over 78 and a tie for 60th. Sophomore Candance Schepperle posted eight bogey's and finished the day 8-over 81 and tied for 82nd.
Pepperdine's Taylore Karle is the individual leader after firing a 6-under 67. Ranked fourth in the nation, Oklahoma State's Pernilla Lindberg and Southern Cal's Dewi Claire Schreefel are tied for second (5-under 68), followed by Stanford's Mari Chun (4-under 69).
Auburn will tee off of hole one Tuesday at 8 a.m. MT with Arizona and Oklahoma State.
For complete results from the Fall Preview, please visit www.golfstat.com.